Haman’s Sons in Bnei Brak

Wait, is there really such a prohibition? Interestingly, the Yad Dovid notes that this prohibition isn’t mentioned in the Talmud Bavli or by the Rambam, even though the Mechilta (Parshas Beshalach) does bring it up. This discrepancy might be the very reason the Bavli tells us that Haman’s descendants were able to convert.

Scholars have offered a few creative explanations to harmonize Haman’s descendants’ conversion with the prohibition against accepting convert from Amalek:

The Emek Bracha suggests that a beis din, unaware of this particular halacha, converted them, and once they were part of the community, there was no need to distance them later.

The Sridei Aish points out that maybe these descendants were from Haman’s daughters, not his sons. Since nationality follows the father, a child born of Haman’s daughter and a non-Amaleki would be allowed to convert.

The Yad Dovid offers another answer based on the Tosefta in Kiddushin. Sancheriv mixed the populations so thoroughly that by the time of Haman’s descendants, it was nearly impossible to identify who was genuinely an Amaleki. As a result, even if they had Amaleki ancestry, they were no longer classified as such halachically and could convert. Still Chazal had a tradition that Amaleiki descendants went on to teach Torah in Bnei Brak.

The Megilas Sefer suggests that there was an incident where a Jewish family discovered an abandoned baby in a non-Jewish area, converted the child (with the typical opt-out option at 13), only to later learn that the child was from Amalek. This child ending up becoming a great scholar and a teacher of Torah in Bnei Brak.

Megillas Sefer also suggests another answer. In truth, converts from Amalek are accepted, but they are not allowed to marry into the Jewish community.

Adding another twist, the Kli Chemda offers a surprising perspective: perhaps Haman was already Jewish! According to this view, Haman sold himself as an “eved Canaani” (a Canaanite slave) to Mordechai, and such a servant must observe most mitzvos. Once freed, these individuals could become full members of the community. So, Haman’s descendants, who were not slaves, could naturally become full-fledged Jews.

The Chasam Sofer uses the fact that Haman was an eved Canaani to explain a pasuk in the Megillah. The pasuk states (3:4), “When they spoke to him (Mordechai) day after day and he would not listen to them, they told Haman, in order to see whether Mordecai’s resolve would prevail; for he had explained to them that he was a Jew.” The pasuk is saying that Mordechai explained that he was a Jew and that he could not bow down to Haman.

The Chasam Sofer suggests an alternate explanation for the end of the pasuk. Mordechai refused to bow and offered a rather embarrassing excuse. Mordechai explained to them that Haman was a Jew: an eved Canaani! He refused to bow down to his slave.

Some also suggest that an Amaleki might be allowed to convert using a legal loophole. He first accepts the seven Noahide laws, becoming a ger toshav, and then he may fully convert into Judaism.

And what about Bnei Brak? Well, one of the five sages reclining there was Rebbe Yehoshua, a native of Bnei Brak. The Mechilta tells us that he didn’t accept the view that converts from Amalek shouldn’t be allowed. Because of his authority, converts from Amalek were welcomed in his hometown, making Bnei Brak the very place where Haman’s descendants went on to teach Torah. Indeed, some suggest that among Haman’s descendants was none other than the great Rebbe Akiva, who was also mentioned as one of the five sages who reclined in Bnei Brak.